THE PATENT LAWS. ministration of justice in the Privy Council, and the Act of 5 and 6 Wm. IV. c. 83, touching letters patent for inventions, those clauses which relate to the latter branch of the subject. Clause II. "And whereas it is expedient, for the further encouragement of inventions in the useful Arts, to enable the time of monopoly in patents to be extended in cases in which it can be satisfactorily shown that the expense of the invention hath been greater than the time now limited by law will suffice to reimburse; Be it enacted, that if any person, having obtained a patent for any invention, shall before the expiration thereof present a petition to her Majesty in council, setting forth that he has been unable to obtain a due remuneration for his expense and labour in perfecting such invention, and that an exclusive right of using and vending the same for the further period of seven years, in addition to the term in such patent mentioned, will not suffice for his reimbursement and remuneration, then, if the matter of such petition shall be by her Majesty referred to the judicial committee of the privy council, the said committee shall proceed to consider the same after the manner and in the usual course of its proceedings touching patents, and if the said committee shall be of opinion, and shall so report to her Majesty, that a further period greater than seven years extension of the said patent term ought to be granted to the petitioner, it shall be lawful for her Majesty, if she shall so think fit, to grant an extension thereof for any time not exceeding fourteen years, in like manner and subject to the same rules as the extension for a term not exceeding seven years is now granted under the powers of the said act of the sixth year of the reign of his late Majesty. Clause III. "Provided always, and be it enacted, that nothing herein contained shall prevent the said judicial committee from reporting that an extension for any period not exceeding seven years should be granted, or prevent her Majesty from granting an extension for such lesser term than the petition shall have prayed. Clause IV. And whereas doubts have arisen touching the power given by the said recited act of the sixth year of the reign of his late Majesty in cases where the patentees have wholly or in part assigned their right; Be it enacted, that it shall be lawful for her Majesty, on the report of the judicial committee, to grant such extension as is authorized by the said Act and by this Act, either to an assignee or assignees or to the original patentee or patentees, or to an assignee or assignees and original patentee or patentees conjointly. 103 Clause V. "And be it enacted, that in case the original patentee or patentees hath or have departed, with his or their whle or any part of his or their interest by assignment to any other person or persons, it shall be lawful for such patentee, together with such assignee or assignees if part only hath been assigned, and for the assignee or assignees if the whole hath been assigned, to enter a disclaimer and memorandum of alteration, under the powers of the said recited Act, and such disclaimer and memorandum of such alteration, having been so entered and filed as in the said recited Act mentioned, shall be valid and effectual in favour of any person or persons in whom the rights under the said letters patent may then be or thereafter become legally vested; and no objection shall be made in any proceeding whatsoever on the ground that the party making such disclaimer or memorandum of such alteration had not sufficient authority in that behalf. Clause VI." And be it enacted, that any disclaimer or memorandum of alteration before the passing of this Act, or by virtue of the said recited Act, by such patentee with such assignee or by such assignees as aforesaid, shall be valid and effectual to bind any person or persons in whom the said letters patent might then be or have since become vested; and no objection shall be made in any proceeding whatsoever that the party making such disclaimer or memorandum of alteration had not authority in that behalf. Clause VII." And be it enacted, that any new letters patent which before the passing of this Act may have been granted, under the provisions of the above recited Act of the sixth year of the reign of his late Majesty, to an assignee or assignees, shall be as valid and effectual as if the said letters patent had been made after the passing of this Act, and the title of any party to such new letters patent shall not be invalidated by reason of the same having been granted to an assignee or assignees: provided always, that nothing herein contained shall give any validity or effect to any letters patent heretofore granted to any assignee or assignees where any action or proceeding in scire facias or suit in equity shall have been commenced at any time before the passing of this Act, wherein the validity of such letters patent shall have been or may be questioned." The first patentee who has given notice of his intention to apply for a renewal for 14 years under Clause II. of this Act, is the Earl of Dundonald-at whose instance, as our readers are aware, that clause was introduced. The patent which he applies to have renewed is that for his Rotary Engine,, 104 POLYZONAL LENS FOR RAILWAY SIGNALS. which, though so far patronized by the Lords of the Admiralty, that they have authorized bis lordship to get it applied at the public expense to H.M.S. Janus, nobody else has dreamt of making use of, or probably ever will. Would it not have been as well, if the Act had provided, that where a person has obtained a patent for an invention, which all the rest of the world think nothing of, and care nothing about, he should be allowed to re-patent it for as long a period as he pleases-say 99 or 999 years? The Privy Council (for an unpaid body) has a great deal to do, and ought not to be troubled with superfluous applications. It might be pleasant hereafter, for posterity to look back on the number of mechanical absurdities and abortions, of which would-be inventors had thus secured to themselves and their heirs, the perpetual honour and monopoly. Brilliancy and space penetrating power in the light of railway signals is of the highest importance, and equally, or even more so, are the signals for steamboats, &c. As the thickness at the centre of the lens of a railway signal lamp depends upon the distance of the lens from the flame of the lamp, in order that the divergent rays may be transmitted parallel, and as this distance is, on account of the limited size of the lamp, small, so the lens, as usually constructed, is very thick, generally from 2 inches to 2 inches in the centre, and being generally coloured red or some other colour, the loss of light by absorption is very great. The prefixed figure represents a mode of obviating this, which I have adopted, by an application of the polyzonal lens of Fresnel. The lens is cast in two parts. The outer, or annular lens, and the inner, or central one, then ground, so as to have a common focus. The inner lens is fitted to the rabbate of the annular one by a little Canada balsam or other suitable cement; and thus the compound lens, at a small additional expense, has less than half the thickness at the centre of the common one, and as short a focal length with much greater penetrative power. Weight is also saved in the lens, which is of importance in railway signals, when mounted aloft, in stormy weather, and economizes the coloured glass. The lenses to be completely cleaned, must be washed outside to clear out dust from the sharp re-entering corners of the central lens; but even this might be avoided by fitting and cementing a circular disk of thin plate glass over the central space, from a to b in section, to keep out dust. Dublin, August 2, 1844, ROBERT MALLET, 31 IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON. SPARK-CATCHER FOR LOCOMOTIVE 2 ENGINES. a is the funnel of a locomotive engine; bb, outward casing placed over it; c, a deflecting cap (shown in section) placed over the inner funnel, which will give a downward motion to the sparks; dd, space between the casing and funnel for receiving the deposit of sparks, which is cleared out when required, at the openings e e; ff, blast-pipe. It will be obvious, that this arrangement is free from the detrimental objection of obstructing the blast, as the deflexion takes place at the point where the force of the blast can be softened down sufficiently to allow the sparks to deposit in the casing, without impairing the draft to any perceptible degree in the furnace. WM. SYMINGTON. Commercial Road, January 15, 1844. APPLICATION 105 OF ELECTRICITY TO THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON. The "The attention of the iron-masters has been attracted to a process of considerable importance lately introduced into their manufacture. application of electricity, to supersede several of the expensive processes, has, it is stated, been tried in the Welsh and Derbyshire furnaces with satisfactory results. It appears that the costly fuel and labour required for the purification of the ore from sulphur, phosphorus, and such subtle elements, create its high market value; and these being all electro-negative, have induced the new process, whereby the impure stream of metal after flowing from the blast is in its moment of consolidation subjected to a powerful voltaic battery, which so disengages the impure components that in the process of puddling they are readily extracted. The London blacksmiths, it is stated. have tested this iron after a single reheating, and pronounce it equal to the best metal in the market. By the same process an experiment was tried by Dr. Ure, by whom a soft rod of iron was held in contact with a moderate red heat, and that gentleman is understood to have stated that in a few hours the metal was converted into steel. Should these facts prove what they seem, they are calculated to affect most seriously this important branch of our trade."-Times.-City Article. The process referred to in the above extract is that for which Mr. Arthur Wall obtained a patent, November 18, 1843. It is thus described in his Specification, enrolled May 18, 1844: "In casting a bar or similar mass, the electric current is caused to traverse from end to end, by conductors so arranged, that when the metal runs into the mould it may complete the electric circuit, or by means of a wire or wires, passed from one end of the mould to the other. If the castings are horizontal, a piece of wrought iron or other conducting material is placed at each end of the mould, which is made of sand, or other non-conducting substance: these conductors are then connected by wires with a galvanic apparatus, or voltaic pile, or electro-magnetic or other battery; so that, when the melted iron is run into the mould, it will complete the electric circuit; and the patentee prefers to continue the electric current for some time after the iron has solidified. When the castings are vertical, a similar arrangement is made for the passage of the electric current through the metal, by placing a conductor at the top and bottom of the mould, in such a manner, that the electric circuit will be completed the moment the mould is filled with the liquid iron. "To apply electricity to iron in a smelting furnace or cupola, a wrought-iron rod is introduced through or at the side of the taphole, until it comes in contact with the melting metal, and another wrought-iron rod is introduced at the upper and posterior part of the hearth, or through one of the tuyere holes, until it reaches the metal; the 106 TREATISE ON THE STEAM-ENGINE, BY THE ARTIZAN CLUB. outer ends of these rods being then connected with a battery, the electric current will be caused to pass through the iron; care being taken not to continue it so long as to entirely decarburate the iron, and bring it to a malleable state. When the electricity is to be applied to the iron in a puddling or balling furnace, two iron rods are also used; one of which is inserted into the fused metal, and the other end is connected with a bat tery; the other rod is attached to an insulating handle of porcelain, pottery, or other non-conducting substance, and a wire from the battery is connected to it, close to the handle. By means of the handle, the extremity of the rod is caused to traverse the iron in its melted state, or during its transition to the solid state, and the electric current will therefore pass through the metal in every possible direction." TREATISE ON THE STEAM ENGINE. BY THE ARTIZAN CLUB.-PART II. The' writer who enacts, in respect of this work, the part of the "Artizan Club," left his readers at the close of Part 1. in the expectation of something particularly fine, being forthcoming from his pen, on the genius of Watt. And now we have it. "To what an exaltation does he not rise by a comparison with Smeaton; certainly next to Watt, the greatest mechanical genius of his time, and one that has not been excelled by any which has appeared since that epoch. He began his improvements upon the steam-engine about the same time as Watt, and he accomplished all perhaps that could be expected of a patient and technical mind; but the genius of Watt ascended from the narrow circuit of actual experience into the bright fields of imagination, and drew from thence the inspiration that directed its subsequent achievements. Smeaton was able to improve, but Watt was also able to create; and as he had never received any practical training, his mind was free from the fetters of authority, and the fire of his imagination, unquenched by the chilling dogmas of a sect. Much of his success is, we think, due to the unsettled condition of his early life, which permitted and demanded a wider range of thought, though its exercise had been restricted to a single occupation; and the condition of an humble citizen was much better adapted for the development of his genius than the ease of academic shades, or the vanities of scholastic discipline. Had Watt been born in the atmosphere of Oxford he would have subsided, in all probability, into an expounder of the metres of Pindar; or had his imagination been broken in the schools, he would have sunk, in all likelihood, into a mere professor of engineering. It is from the race of artizans that genius is chiefly recruited, for the imaginations of the illiterate can at least have fair play, and their spirits are not quelled by the presence of those idols of perfection, before which the learned bow down in admiration. Homer (!) Socrates (!!!) Shakspeare, Burns, Watt, and almost all great original spirits have sprung from the condition of humble life, and the splendour of their genius is due in a great measure to that happy accident, for they had thus no precedent constantly before their eyes within the boundary of which they had to restrain their aspirations, but followed nature without wandering through all her varied aspects; now conjuring up landscapes of immortal beauty, full of all sights and sounds of sweetness-woodland solitudes and rushing waters-and mountain echoes, and flowers glittering on the moonlight—and now turning to the delineation of the bright or stormy passions of the heart, and raising up spirits of fierce aspect or of matchless grace, or analyzing the springs of character, or discussing human duties, or penetrating to the fountain of science; but following nature still in all her various mutations, and suffering no idol to interfere between them and that Great Light of which their own glory is the reflection. Such minds cannot become technical, or be limited in their excursions to one small corner of creation, and the great secret of Watt's greatness as an engineer, is, that he was not an engineer merely."-p. 21. moun The wretchedly bad taste of this passage, with its lackadaisical babble about "woodland solitudes," "rushing waters," 99 66 tain echoes," &c.-might be safely left to speak for itself; but there is an amount of wretchedly worse doctrine in it, which may not be so properly passed over in silence. The professed aim of the writer is, to inculcate, that practical training, scholastic discipline, and scholastic learning are unfavourable to the development of the higher powers of mind-that no happier accident can befal a man at the outset of life than to be left to grow wild- that next to the advantage of being poor in purse is being poor in mind, since the more "illiterate" a man is, the greater the certainty of his imagination" having “fair play”—that TREATISE ON THE STEAM-ENGINE, BY THE ARTIZAN CLUB. the humbler a person's condition of life, the more the likelihood of his emerging gloriously from it-and that it is only by a constant supply of recruits from "the race of artizans" that the ranks of genius are kept filled. Miserable fallacies, or falsehoods worse than fallacies these,-at variance with all history, all experience, all rational probability. Training-discipline― learning-what is there in them, either as existing in schools and colleges, or elsewhere, that such evil influences as these should be ascribed to them? Are they more to the human mind than tilling, dressing, weeding, watering, and manuring are to the soil? We trew not. When crab-apples are finer than golden pippins, or colewort richer than cauliflower; when good wheat is seen to spring up spontaneously from the common; or when any wild rose can be found to compare with the rose of the garden; then, but not till then, we may admit that all cultivation is vanity. If now and then an uneducated person has achieved for himself a name in letters or in science, we may be quite sure that it has not been by virtue of the want of education, but in absolute spite of it. Never yet was there a man who became great without education, who would not have been greater with it; and but seldom, one so distinguished, who was not himself the foremost to acknowledge that want of education had been a grievous drawback upon his exertions. In truth, it is but in compliance with common parlance that we can say, that men ever do become great, or indeed good for anything, without education; if not educated in early life, they must be educated in after life-to a certain extent and somehow or other-before they can make manifest the power there is in them. Whether the training be early or late-whether it be training by others or self-training-still it is by training only, more or less complete, that a man can overtop the multitude around him. The pillars of our literature and science-from Chaucer to Scott, from Bacon to Dalton-have all been, without a single exception, educated men. If you would know what your "illiterate" people with 107 strong "imaginations" and "fair play," (which means unbridled license) are good for, you must search the domains of superstition and empiricism-enquire after those who have been most famous as astrologers, alchemists, fanatics, false prophets, miracle mongers; seers of signs not to be seen, seekers after treasures not to be found, discoverers of things not to be discovered, workers of wonders not to be wrought, implicit believers in the improbable and impossible. The existing monuments of the benefit they have conferred on mankind, what and where are they? The philosopher's stone, the elixir vitæ, the circle squared, perpetual motion discovered! To assert that it is from "the race of artizans that genius is chiefly recruited," is to assert what is historically and notoriously untrue, from no other motive, we fear, than the contemptible one of pandering to their vanity, for the sake of their applause. A minute's inspection of any biographical collection will suffice to prove to any one the extreme erroneousness of the statement. What are the writer's instances? "Homer," "Socrates," (of all men in the world,)" Shakspeare, Burns, and Watt." Why there is not a genuine artizan, with the exception of Watt, amongst them! Of Watt we shall speak presently; but we may here observe generally of artizans, as a class, that they are unfortunately by far too poor, and too constantly occupied from infancy with providing for their bodily wants, to make it likely, or even possible, that they should produce any considerable number of persons remarkable for intellectual cultivation. Instances there have been of poor men, and artizans too, struggling upwards to literary and scientific renown, notwithstanding all the difficulties and obstacles incidental to humble life; but for one ininstance of the sort a hundred others might, we fancy, be easily adduced (but that the annals of the poor are so imperfectly kept) of men who possessed the greatest natural genius, but were, solely from lowliness of birth and fortune, never able to rise above their original condition, and died unhonoured and unknown ; : |